What is important 			
About Sharpeville
is not that seventy died:
Nor even that they were shot in the back
Retreating, unarmed, defenseless

And certainly not
The heavy caliber slug
That tore through a mothers back
And ripped into the child in her arms
Killing it.

Remember Sharpeville
Bullet-in-the-back day

Because it epitomized oppression
And the nature of society
More clearly then anything else;
It was the classic event

Nowhere is racial dominance
More clearly defined
Nowhere the will to oppress
More clearly demonstrated

What the world whispers
Apartheid declares with snarling guns
The blood the rich lust after
South Africa spills in dust


Remember Sharpeville
Remember bullet-in-the-back day

And remember the unquenchable will for freedom
Remember the dead and be glad
